1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to portable, hand-holdable trimmer devices for lawn and garden use, and, more particularly, to hand-holdable trimmer apparatus incorporating therein a vacuum system for collecting the trimmer cuttings into a convenient collection container mounted on the apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Portable hand-holdable grass or weed trimmers are known which generally comprise an elongated support, a drive motor mounted on one end of the support and a rotating cutting head with flexible filaments or the like mounted on the opposite end of the shaft with the cutting head being driven by the drive motor through a coupling shaft extending along or inside the support. An example of such known grass or weed trimmer is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,849.
When using such grass or weed trimmers the cuttings are usually dispersed over a relatively wide area because of the high rotation speed of the filament head. This necessitates a laborious effort to gather or otherwise dispose of the dispersed cuttings using a separate sweeper, vacuum or blower apparatus. It would be extremely advantageous if a grass or weed trimmer incorporated means for sucking up the grass cuttings immediately after they are produced by the cutting head and for storing the cuttings in a container carried with the trimmer thereby eliminating the extra step of gathering dispersed cuttings. Such an improved apparatus is provided by the present invention.